The present invention, in some embodiments thereof, relates to a collagen comprising enhanced elasticity and, more particularly, but not exclusively, to a coral-derived collagen.
Collagens are the main structural proteins responsible for the structural integrity of vertebrates and many other multicellular organisms.
Collagen provides biomaterials for a myriad of uses including pharmaceutical (haemostatic compresses, sponges, dressings in particular healing dressings), medical (prostheses such as cardiac valves, tendons and ligaments, skin substitutes, filling agents), odontological (gum implants) and cosmetic (additive, anti-wrinkling agent, microcontainer for perfumed substances). Collagen-based products can be made into membranes, films, sheets, sponges and dispersions of fibrils for any of the above purposes.
One important area in which collagen has proven useful is that of tissue engineering. Tissue engineering (TE) is defined as the application of engineering disciplines to either maintain existing tissue structures or to enable new tissue growth. This engineering approach generally includes the delivery of a tissue scaffold that serves as an architectural support onto which cells may attach, proliferate, and synthesize new tissue to repair a wound or defect. Tissue scaffolds typically have high open-celled porosity to allow cell migration throughout the scaffold and also to allow important nutrient-bearing fluids to flow through the scaffold to maintain the health of the cells.
Tissue engineering scaffolds that have been reported in the literature include meshes, woven structures, non-woven structures, knitted structures, three dimensional woven structures, sponges and foams. The scaffolds are typically made of materials that are biocompatible. Often, they are made of biodegradable materials. Biodegradable materials readily break down into small segments when exposed to moist body tissue. The segments then either are absorbed by the body, or passed by the body. More particularly, the biodegraded segments do not elicit permanent chronic foreign body reaction, because they are absorbed by the body or passed from the body, such that no permanent trace or residual of the segment is retained by the body. Ideally, the biodegradable tissue scaffolds degrade at approximately the same rate as the body synthesizes new tissue to repair the wound or defect.
A broad range of tissue engineering products based on collagen scaffolds are currently under development, and some of them have already reached the market. For example, collagen gels seeded with fibroblasts have been used as the “dermal” layer of the artificial skin sold under the tradename APLIGRAFT (Sandoz A G, Basel, Switzerland), and collagen sponges have been used as an osteoconductive carrier of bone morphogenic protein-2 (BMP-2) for spine fusion and the treatment of long bone fractures.
Collagen based biomaterials have been formed into fibers, film, sheets, sponges and dispersions of fibrils. Many of these forms could be used as tissue engineering scaffolds in the repair or augmentation of body tissue.